Many foreigners hurt in Melbourne car attack

MELBOURNE - Nearly half the 19 people injured when a driver with no known extremist links plowed into pedestrians in the southern city of Melbourne were foreign nationals, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday.

Police alleged that the 32-year-old Australian man, a refugee from Afghanistan, had a history of mental illness and drove a car into Christmas shoppers on one of the busiest roads in Australia's second-largest city on Thursday.

The incident was a chilling reminder of attacks using vehicles in cities around the world. Four people were killed in a similar incident in Melbourne in January.